Obama Wasn't a Saint: Drone Wars and Executive Power

• 32:27Obama was a great actor who probably cared about people, but that doesn't excuse his actual record.
• 32:53He wiretapped journalists, prosecuted whistleblowers, and dropped hellfire missiles—a thousand bombs in a year.
• 33:07Obama reversed his position on Guantanamo Bay, revealing either he was a wolf in sheep's clothing or the public actually wanted those policies.
• 33:36The idea that Obama was a saint is false; there are no outsiders in electoral politics.
• 33:54Bush expanded executive power and presidential authority, which Obama kept entirely intact instead of erasing.
• 34:21Bush normalized torture and the idea that intervention is just what America does now without explanation.
• 34:38Private military contractors like Blackwater went from one in ten soldiers to ten times as many, operating outside the chain of command.
• 35:13Obama normalized high-tech drone warfare and extrajudicial kill lists run by the unelected CIA targeting people for unknown crimes.
• 35:57When people talk about the drone war now, they just say 'yeah, that's how we do business'—it's been normalized as acceptable.
• 36:37People in other countries remember Obama bombed seven countries, but American progressives forgot about this while focusing on cultural issues.

Barack ObamaCIABlackwaterdrone warfareGeorge W. BushGuantanamo Bay